The Washington Times

Since the end of the Cold War, the United States has been on a steep learning curve on the subject of its own power and role in the world. In the rush of events, it’s easy to lose sight of how much has changed and how slow we have sometimes been in understanding it. Only now, I think, as we deal with the aftermath of Iraq, is the picture of our recent past coming clearly into focus.

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The Washington Times

The famous formulation attributed to National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice about how to handle recriminations for the diplomatic crackup prior to the Iraq war goes as follows: Forgive Russia, ignore Germany, punish France. In Ankara, the capital of Turkey, where a badly fractured parliament narrowly voted against providing access to U.S. ground troops for a massive northern front against Iraq, thereby forfeiting perhaps $24 billion in U.S. assistance, Miss Rice’s formulation has a certain existential resonance.

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The Washington Times

The lesson of the Bush tax-cutting record is that what matters is structural change and political leverage down the line. What matters not so much are the projected dollar “costs” of the tax cuts and, accordingly, the deficit.

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The Washington Times

Senior French officialdom now has a consistent message about the diplomatic breakdown prior to the Iraq war. What happened was that in January, French officials first realized that the United States was determined to go war to oust Saddam Hussein. The United States would accept no diplomatic resolution pertaining to the disarmament of Saddam, as called for in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441.

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